


never want once

by okamiwind



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Words, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24685210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okamiwind/pseuds/okamiwind
Summary: kyungsoo wakes with the words on his skin, and minseok says them when he needs them most.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 28
Kudos: 114





	never want once

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kevidnay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kevidnay/gifts).



Kyungsoo is nineteen, and he wakes with the words _You really like that song, huh?_ written across his wrist in a neat hand. He holds his arm up above his head, staring at the words as they stare back at him. 

He's never truly subscribed to the idea. 

His life already feels full, and there is no way to get more full. 

_What song_ , he wonders. 

He falls back asleep, fingertips brushing against the ink embedded in his skin. 

It’s easy once you know you have a soulmate.  
  


☆

Kyungsoo is twenty-three, and he is tired of looking.

He’s not the most romantic person in the entire world, but with everyone around him finding their soulmates, hearing their words, it makes him feel like life is passing him by. It makes him feel like everyone else is progressing while he is not. 

“You’re just sensitive,” Chanyeol says, arm slung around Sehun’s neck as Sehun absently mouths at Chanyeol’s throat. 

“Yeah, I wonder why,” Kyungsoo deadpans. 

Sehun deigns to show his face, smiling giddily. “Sorry. I got distracted.” 

“I’m signing up for a dating website,” Kyungsoo says. 

“ _No_ ,” they whine in unison. 

"Yes." 

“Don’t,” Sehun says. “That’s so tragic.” 

“What’s tragic about taking control of my own future?” Kyungsoo says. 

“It reeks of desperation,” Chanyeol says. “Fate works on her own time, Soo.” 

Kyungsoo furrows his brow, and he sips angrily at his soda. Fuck fate. He’ll find what he wants, and he’ll get it on his own time.  
  


☆

Kyungsoo is twenty-five, and after two years, he has finally met a passable man. He has a good job, a nice personality, plenty of interesting hobbies. They go for coffee dates on Sunday mornings, and they sit in comfortable silence on Friday nights during their movie dates. Kyungsoo is happy, he thinks.

 _This is fine,_ he thinks. _This must be what happy feels like._

It is a couple months later when he is sitting on his boyfriend’s couch, and he hears words he didn’t think he’d ever hear. 

“We were just having fun,” he is told. “A-And now that I’ve found her, I think it’s time for you to find who you’re meant to be with too.” 

Kyungsoo leaves, and he walks to Chanyeol and Sehun’s with tears in his eyes. He cries in their arms, and for a moment, he is comforted. Then, he opens his eyes, and he sees the words written on Sehun’s wrist. 

_You must be the love of my life_ , it reads, and it’s stupid, but Kyungsoo jealousy has festered and fermented into something mean. He closes his eyes, lets the rest of his tears slip away.  
  


☆

Kyungsoo is twenty-eight, and he has given up hope on hearing the words. He lives his life for himself, and after several years of growth, he has found peace in it. He does what he wants when he wants, and he doesn’t have to think about anyone besides him. He goes out on Saturday nights with his friends, and he drinks until he feels the overwhelming need to shepherd them home.

Chanyeol has just spent twenty dollars putting _Africa_ by Toto on the jukebox twelve times, occasionally interspersed with _Everybody Wants to Rule the World_ by Tears for Fears, and Kyungsoo is tapping at the machine trying to make it stop. 

“You really like that song, huh?” 

Kyungsoo’s eyes go wide as he turns, and he sees a man around his height, bright, happy eyes, red, drunk cheeks, and pitch black hair. He is beautiful, and tears leap to Kyungsoo’s eyes. 

“It wasn’t me,” Kyungsoo says, throat tight. 

Realization dawns on the man’s face, and he looks to his wrist, pulling back his sleeve. The man shows him his own handwriting, Kyungsoo's handwriting, the words _It wasn’t me_ scrawled across him like red strings, like prophecies. 

“Holy shit,” his soulmate says, and Kyungsoo looks down at his own wrist, pulling it back to show him. His soulmate’s eyes widen when he sees his writing too, the words he had just uttered. “Holy _shit_.” 

“I-I’m—”

“I had given up hope,” his soulmate says. “I thought I might never find you, and now… now I have.” 

Kyungsoo’s mouth is dry as he looks him over, overwhelmed with a swelling of affection of which he does not know the source. 

The stars, he assumes. 

“Me too,” Kyungsoo says. “M—I had lost hope too.” 

This handsome stranger, the man that he will learn the love the way he loves himself, smiles. 

“I’m Minseok,” he offers, and he sticks out his hand. 

“Kyungsoo.” 

He takes Minseok’s hand, and something, the golden threads of time, space, sound, and light, they wrap them up tight. 

“I have something really important to ask,” Minseok says. 

“Yeah?” 

“What’s your favorite drink?” he smiles. 

“Anything that’s free,” Kyungsoo smiles back. 

“Just my type,” Minseok says. 

Kyungsoo follows him over to the bar, and for the rest of the night, they drink together, the smooth vocals of David Paich falling over their shoulders, draping down their backs.  
  


☆

Kyungsoo is twenty-eight, and he takes things slow with Minseok. There’s no need, he supposes, he knows without a shadow of a doubt that they are right for each other, but still… there’s something about the slide into friendship that really gives him those good fuzzy feelings.

“Apples or oranges?” Minseok asks, feet in Kyungsoo’s lap. 

“What kind of question is that?” 

“A question old as time,” Minseok says. “Apples or oranges?” 

“I pick peaches,” Kyungsoo says. 

“That’s not an option.” 

“I am not the type to be limited by options,” Kyungsoo says. “And if we’re trying to get to know each other, isn’t that more telling?” 

“Sometimes, Kyungsoo, I just want to know which fruit you prefer.” 

Kyungsoo thinks on it for a moment. “Oranges, I guess.” 

“Does that stay the same for juice too?” Minseok asks. 

“I like grapefruit juice,” Kyungsoo says. 

“What are you, eighty?” 

“You jest, but did you know that the grapefruit industry was hit hard because of grapefruit’s interactions with common cholesterol and blood pressure medications?” Kyungsoo says. “So all the old people had to stop eating them, and then—” 

“We killed a fruit by refusing to be killed by it,” Minseok says, and he thunks his head back along the arm of the couch, eyes slipping shut. “Poetry.” 

Kyungsoo puts his hands on Minseok’s ankle, rubs with his thumb. 

“I’m happy we’re friends,” Kyungsoo says. “Really happy.” 

Minseok opens his eyes with a smile. “Yeah,” he says softly. “Me too.”  
  


☆

Kyungsoo turns twenty-nine, and they’ve known each other for five months when Minseok kisses him in the middle of a game of Scattergories. Kyungsoo’s eyes stay open just a moment too long, and then he quickly squeezes them shut, kissing Minseok back as best he can. It is even better than he imagined it would be.

Was it the wait? Was it fate? Kyungsoo can’t be sure. All he knows is that he doesn’t want to play board games with anyone else, doesn’t want to kiss anyone else, doesn’t want to wait any longer, not for something so right. 

He licks into Minseok’s mouth, swallowing a surprised moan, surprised himself when Minseok pulls away like it’s difficult. 

“S-Sorry,” Minseok says, “I’ve wanted to do that for a while, and I know we said we were gonna take things slow, but—” 

Kyungsoo pulls Minseok back to him by the shoulders, and he kisses him hard. They forget about the game, but if the letter was L, Kyungsoo could think of many things. _Light, linger, liquid, lavish, lasting, laughter, love, love, love._  
  


☆

Kyungsoo is thirty when they get married in the middle of the arboretum, the birds singing for them.

Kyungsoo is thirty, and his life begins again, bigger and better and, impossible though it might be, more full.  
  


☆

**Author's Note:**

> i really like this little au ;~; i hope you enjoyed!


End file.
